Sue Lakos can sing like an angel and bake heavenly confections. But Lakos can get down and dirty with the toughest of farmers.
Lakos, the director of livestock for the Agriculture and Food Fair and head donkey wrangler for the Gentlemen of Jones, is a familiar face at the fair for the past two decades. She’s in charge of the livestock barn, all the livestock activities and events. At the Donkey Races she is on the field at Paul E. Joseph Stadium coordinating the races. In the days before the race she organizes and gathers all the donkeys from across St. Croix for the annual event.
Lakos said she has always had a love for animals, loves working with them and has no fear of them. And she she enjoys working with local farmers, she said.
She said she couldn’t possibly do everything she does at the fair without the coordinator and the work crew at the Agriculture Department.
“They are unparalleled and fantastic workers,” Lakos said. “I couldn’t do it without them. I get a lot of teens to volunteer making for a lot of bodies to pull it off. And the teens are getting good experience.”
Lakos said she has been organizing the donkey races for about 10 years. Quick with puns and humor, Lakos said she is up to her eyeballs in asses when it’s time for the races. The races usually held around Emancipation Day have been postponed this year until August because there weren’t enough food vendors available in July.
On her farm in Estate La Reine, Lakos raises chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, dogs, horses, donkeys and award-winning cattle. She says if she has a bad day she likes to watch her animals, and nothing is more thrilling to her than the miracle of an animal’s birth.
Working, canning and preparing food in her kitchen on her little farm is like therapy, she said, and she definitely considers herself a foodie.
To sample Sweet Sue’s Cakes, folks just have to shop at the market in Estate La Reine on Saturdays where Lakos sells her home-made treats. She said rum cakes are her most popular cake, and the recipe for carrot cake which she got from her grandmother is a close second. Lakos said she bakes and decorates cakes of all sizes for all occasions and for no occasion.
At the market on Saturdays she also sells eggs, jams, jellies, canned pickles, peppers, chutney and sauces she has preserved.
Lakos also knows how to cater to and serve large crowds. She is comfortable in the kitchen at the St. Croix Reformed Church, where she cooks and serves an annual Easter Sunday morning breakfast for the congregation filling tables with eggs, bacon, ham, sausage, biscuits and gravy, fruit, pastry, bread and her local fruit jellies and jams.
And on Sundays at the Reformed Church, where she is a founding member, her beautiful voice can be heard coming from the back of the church. Occasionally she sings a special solo song of praise.
Lakos, from Manistee, Mich., first came to St. Croix in 1984 while a student at Michigan State University, where she was studying animal husbandry. She had an internship at the College of the Virgin Islands, now the University of the Virgin Islands, in the agriculture experiment station working with farmers classifying senepole cattle.
In 1986 Lakos moved to St. Croix to take a position as an extension agent in the University of the Virgin Islands Cooperative Extension Office. In that position she works with local farmers and youth in livestock education and production.
Lakos said as a farmer she knows firsthand the challenges of farming and how difficult it is to be a successful farmer on St. Croix.
“It’s a challenge to try maximize profitability here when farming appears to be pushed to the back burner,” Lakos said. “Farmers are hard workers, but there are a lot of challenges with drought, lack of equipment and services. And there aren’t enough resources at the Department of Agriculture to service all the farmers.”
“I always hear that the local farmers charge too much for their products,” Lakos explained. “But the quality, freshness and nutritional level is higher in food that isn’t gassed and shipped here. Buying farm fresh food helps the local economy and tastes so much better.”
Lakos said the donkey races will probably be held the end of August this year. She said there is a Facebook page for St. Croix Donkey Races where she will post information about the races.
Love Sue; always will.